


Saturn

by BRobeast



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 05:54:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17502881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BRobeast/pseuds/BRobeast
Summary: The crew passes Saturn on the way to Kerberos. Sam has a surprise. (Set in “The Middle” universe)





	Saturn

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eilera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eilera/gifts).



> This is a prompt fill ‘Too quickly into your scarf’ for the “Ways to Say: I love you” from Eilera! ♥️
> 
> I did not proofread 8I sorry for mistakes!

_“Goooooood morning, fellow crew members!”_

It was how they’d started every morning ever since leaving earth for the Kerberos mission. Sam Holt would always be the first to wake up and chirp his new favorite catch phrase over the comms of their vessel.  
, before going about recording the necessary readings in a moss green log book. 

Shiro was next to rise, taking a long, languid stretch from where he slept in the bunk above Matthew. The near constant beam of sunlight that only stood interrupted by the sweeping curve of a planet or the intermittent chunk of space flotsam poured through the fishbowled port window on the exterior wall of their room. It would wash over the smooth curve of Shiro’s bare calf as he descended the metal ladder at the foot of their bunk. It would ricochet over the fly aways of Matt’s sleep mussed curls. 

That morning, however, had been a bit different. Their routine had started a half an hour earlier than usual- something Matt noted as he clumsily slapped the clock on his side table. It had been a bit different because instead of dropping into his morning stretches Shiro had slowed to a stop in front of their bedroom window with a breathless gasp. 

“And if you look to the right of our tour bus you will see the rings of Saturn,” Sam exclaimed in a character voice, before he drifted into something awestruck and quiet, “....and it’s beautiful…” 

Matt stirred in his bed, kicking his comforter from around his legs, before scrambling out of bed and standing at Shiro’s side. Thin fingers curled around the grommeted metal of the window frame and he felt his chest seize. His breath frozen halfway through an inhale as the sun backlit the curve of the outermost ring. 

Sunlight ping-ponged through chunks of ice, slid through the easy pull of dust and water strung so fine it looked like spider web. The black of endless space a consuming color behind the sharp glows of light. 

It didn’t feel real.

It didn’t feel like he should be able to see this with his own eyes. It was like he’d just imagined it into existence- otherworldly. Like it was some sort of scene rendered with computer graphics at the planetarium back on earth, but if they could punch him in the chest. His felt light as if someone had tethered a string to the center of his being and pulled up- lifting him from his feet. 

Matt wanted to look to Shiro. He wanted to confirm in some small way that someone else saw it too. He wanted to see, if in that moment, Shiro was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid eyes on. 

That was the test. 

He would look to his right and after this that face would no longer hold a power over his heart. There would be no more second guessing if it was too soon to say something. There would be no more wondering that if everything happened for a reason and Adam had let him go...then maybe….

It would all be fixed.

It would be cured like a fever break. 

...But amber stayed fixed on those rings…

“...we did it…” Shiro’s voice wilted in the recycled air of their bunk room, “...holy shit, Matt. I...I can’t believe I’m here...”

Kerberos would be the farthest the Garrison had ever made it into space with a manned crew. It was a nine month journey. One that the majority of Garrison swore Shiro would never be allowed to take. It had taken a lot out of him- to be told he couldn’t do something. He’d argued his entire career, the accomplishments that led him to that point; standing in front of a fleet admiral and being told it wasn’t enough. 

It wasn’t enough proof that in the next eighteen months he wasn’t just going to drift off into oblivion, when his breathing finally went, leaving two non-pilots mid mission. 

He gave them his word, but it wasn’t enough. 

Sam had argued for him. Insisted that Shiro was like an extension of their family and if anyone knew what the pilot was capable of it was him. He argued that the stim bracelet had been doing enough to stave off the muscle atrophy. Argued that a disease with a two to five year life expectancy at most had already been extended to seven with no signs that the progression would ever pick up pace- which meant Shiro had at least a handful of years.

He argued that he’d rather have Shiro piloting as is than any other pilot in the Garrison at their absolutely best. 

Matt remembered crying more than Shiro did through those weeks. Shiro just looked tired- like he didn’t any tears left to cry. It wasn’t like him to give up like that, but Matt wasn’t sure what else you did when you presented all of the facts only to have them shut down by speculation.

Shiro, at one point, really believed that because of their chain of command he would never see Kerberos. 

When Matthew had finally managed to pull his eyes away from the surreal scape in front of him and turned his head to look at Shiro- the pilot was already looking at him. His heart shook, rattled by the sight of tears at the corners of Shiro’s eyes. The harsh beam of sunlight crashing through the window lit up the gathering moisture like string lights. 

“...Shiro…” his hand lifted from his side, pushing the curve of a tear away with the pad of his thumb.

He was still beautiful. The realization that he was more in love with the man in front of him than he was with space a terrifying notion. 

Matt didn’t flinch away when the taller man reached forward to grab the curve of his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. Strong arms wrapped around his shoulders, the metal of Shiro’s bracelet cool against him, and Matt couldn’t understand how someone could ever question this man’s strength. 

_“Oh! And a Merry Christmas to Shiro!”_

Matt felt the bubble of a laugh rise into Shiro’s chest, pressing it into his cheek, before he heard the sound of it echo against the bunk room walls.

“I didn’t realize it was Christmas!” The pilot chuckled, releasing Matt from his hold, and wiping at his eyes. 

“Yeah, well, without it being shoved down your throat twenty four seven for three month’s I can see how that’d be the case,” Matt laughed, bumping his shoulder into Shiro’s.

“Oh, come on- it’s only two and a half!”

“Yeah, well it feels like two and a half _lifetimes._ And playing “Eight Crazy Nights” once a week does not an even playing field make.”

“There hasn’t been a single Christmas carol for the last four months. Can y-“

_Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock~_

“Noooo! Dad why!?” 

Shiro laughed. He laughed so hard that bittersweet tears broke free from the curve of his cheeks and collided with the brushed gray floor beneath their feet. Matt’s laughed started as a pleased sort of chuckle, but the second Shiro seemed to choke on his own breath the Holt nearly doubled over in full blown laughter.

They swayed, each trying to catch his breath just long enough to steady themselves, and continuing to come up short. 

_“Alright, boys! Let’s get out work done so we can celebrate properly!”_ Sam’s voice, chipper over the intercom, before the empty silence made it clear he was done talking.

The tune of Jingle Bell Rock had been lowered to a soft noise in the background.

“...you gonna do your engineer junk?”

“Junk? Excuse me. I keep us alive? Are you going to go do your silly pilot _junk_.” Matt teased, leaning forward at the waist, his hands on his hips.

“Yeah, I’m gonna go do my stupid pilot junk you elitist~” Shiro sing-songed, walking backwards toward the door. 

“Meh~meh~meh” Mocking and light hearted.

He pushed Shiro with a challenging shove as they made their way down the hall, only to be pushed right back- their laughs mingling with the chorus of a Christmas song. 

 

\- - - 

 

Once everyone had managed to complete their rounds, scribbling away in their log books, the three passengers gathered in the common area of the ship. Sam had made it first and he’d been standing at the center of his hard work with a wide smile on his face when Matt and Shiro finally stepped in. 

He’d been sporting the Garrison issued sweatshirt and around his neck was a red and green scarf. There were tiny, red, lopsided reindeer bounding off into the green sky. They weren’t anything glamorous, but Matt could tell all of the crocheting his father was doing in their down time was starting to pay off.

“Whoa, Dad…” Matt’s voice was quiet and awestruck as he stepped through the door. His eyes following the string of multicolored Christmas lights that ran the perimeter of the small room, casting everything in a warm red and gold hue. 

“....wow...Sam...I…” 

Sam’s smile shifted into something more soft than proud. Matt could see the same look in his eyes as he watched Shiro step fully into the room that they held for him and Katie. 

The pilot let a disbelieving laugh pass his lips as his fingers danced along the plastic pine needles of a miniature tree placed at the center of the card table. His eyes looked far off and sad for a moment- leaving Matt to fight off the surge of panic in his chest...until an easy smile pulled into the corner of Shiro’s mouth.

“This is...awesome…” 

“Well, it’s only fair!” Sam chirped, patting Matt on the back as his son passed- quick to try and peak at the cards taped to two wrapped presents.

The wrapping wasn’t nearly as crisp as what his mom would manage for other folk back on earth, but the patches of scotch tape showed the effort Sam had put towards getting close. The engineer chuckled, holding up one of the presents, and giving his dad a knowing look.

“I should have asked your mother for pointers before we left,” Sam laughed, moving to scoop up the second gift, and handed it Shiro, “one for each of you.”

“Thank you…” he smiled, looking down at the package in his hand for a moment before Sam’s inpatient gaze prompted him to unwrap it, “oh! Right!”

Matt tore through his wrapping like a wild dog and Shiro pulled up the dog ears in the taped edges, smiling when the soft pattern of crochet stuck through the hole.

“Holy crap dad! This is- this is actually really impressive!”

“Well, I _have_ been practicing!” 

Shiro had started to wrap his scarf loosely around his neck and Matt could make out the shakey spaceship his father had placed at the center of the black scarf. Amber eyes shifted over his own scarf and he smiled down at the elementary robot at the center of orange yarn. 

“Did you...did you plan this from the beginning?” Shiro laughed, the soft curve of his scarf just below his chin.

“I planned on Christmas and being bored from the beginning. The scarfs are the fruits of me training in ‘the craft’.”

“You make it sound like you’re a ninja not a knitter, Dad.”

Sam shrugged and Shiro laughed, pulled along by the arm that wrapped around his shoulders. Sam had pulled Matt in as well, pressing the two of them into his chest with a hug stronger than either of them had expected. 

“Love you, boys.”  
“Love you, dad.”  
“Love you too.” 

Two heavy palms sat atop their heads, ruffling black and strawberry blonde, before he stepped back just enough to catch a glimpse outside of the port window. It sat nestled on the back wall of the common room, encircled in Christmas light. 

“Halfway there,” he grinned, the curve of Saturn’s rings growing more and more distant. 

“Halfway!” Matt whooped, stepping forward to wrap his arms around Shiro, his face pressed into the soft scarf around his neck, “Merry Christmas, man.”

“Thanks, Matt,” the pilot smiled, patting a heavy hand across Matt’s shoulder blades. 

“I love you,” the engineer managed, meaning it. Truly meaning it in a way he knew Shiro would mistake for the usual- if he heard it at all.

Which he hadn’t.

It was too quick, too quiet, and ultimately drowned out by the chorus of “The First Noel” and Sam’s commentary of;

“Well, I didn’t vote for him.”


End file.
